Justice Watch: The Alliance for Justice Blog

September 2009

For those of you who will be in NYC next week, we hope you are able to attend this exciting event on Tuesday, September 15, 2009. Admission is free, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. RSVPs are requested.

What lessons do the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the “war on terror” offer about the abuse of power by the executive branch in times of national crisis? Join Daniel Ellsberg, the RAND strategist whose leak of the Pentagon Papers helped bring down the Nixon presidency and end the Vietnam War, and John Dean, White House counsel to Nixon and later a key whistle-blower on the Watergate scandal, for a conversation about the perils—then and now—of presidential overreach and excessive secrecy.

The event, sponsored by the Open Society Institute National Security and Human Rights Campaign, comes on the eve of the U.S. premiere of the feature documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. Filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith will present clips from the film. Ann Beeson, executive director for U.S. Programs at the Open Society Institute and former associate legal director at the ACLU, will moderate the discussion with Ellsberg and Dean.

See the FilmOn September 16, the day after the above event, the new documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America opens at Film Forum in New York City. More information and tickets are available on the Film Forum website.

The members of Congress who are listed below will decide this week whether to end rules that greatly restrict access to justice for Americans who rely on legal aid.Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 TODAY and tell them it is time to remove the unjust restrictions on funds Legal Services Corporation grantees receive from other sources.

BackgroundNearly 200 independent, nonprofit organizations around the country provide legal aid to poor Americans in civil cases with some funding from the federal government. Federal money appropriated for civil legal aid organizations is distributed through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).

As part of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” federal restrictions were imposed on organizations receiving funding from LSC, and have been attached to every federal appropriation for LSC since 1996.

These restrictions limit the tools lawyers at LSC-funded programs can use when representing their clients. The worst of these include: prohibiting LSC-funded programs from participating in class actions, seeking attorneys’ fees, or advocating before administrative or legislative bodies for policy reform. The restrictions also make certain groups of people ineligible for legal representation from LSC-funded programs entirely, including some groups of documented immigrants, all undocumented immigrants, and people in prison.

However, the restrictions go much further and block organizations from using any other funds – such as individual donations, foundation grants, and state and local government funds – for any service or activity that they are barred from providing with LSC dollars.

Those Who Rely on Legal Aid Hurt When Their Lawyers’ Hands are TiedPeople who rely on LSC-funded programs to receive justice lose when the legal organizations set up to help them cannot use non-federal funds to provide services or advocate for changes in laws and policies.

Legal aid programs should be treated the same as other nonprofits, but they are not. Nonprofits that receive part of their funding from LSC are treated much more stringently than most other government-funded nonprofits, including faith-based organizations. These additional restrictions are out of step with important public-private partnership efforts and result in different rules for LSC-funded organizations than other government-funded entities.

In many states, grantees have had to set up entirely separate organizations and law offices, funded by state and local public funders and private charitable sources, to do the work that LSC-funded programs cannot do. This results in wasteful duplication of overhead, personnel and administrative costs. Federal dollars that could finance more services for clients are also eaten up by the costs of running duplicate offices.

Legislation Before Congress Could End Restrictions on Non-Federal FundsYou can help remove the burdensome, unfair restrictions on the use of non-LSC funds by supporting legislation that is currently before Congress.

This year’s Senate Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill would lift the worst restrictions on LSC grantees’ non-federal funds. This legislation would allow nonprofits to use their non-federal funds as they and their funders choose.

House and Senate subcommittee chairs are talking this week about resolving differences between two bills: one that has passed the House (which does not do enough to remove restrictions on non-federal funds) and a stronger bill moving through the Senate. These members of Congress are meeting in a rare “pre-conference” committee session, in anticipation of passage of the Senate’s bill next week.

Tell the House and Senate members meeting in the pre-conference committee it is time to remove the unjust restrictions on funds Legal Services Corporation grantees receive from other sources.Let them know you strongly support the current language in this year’s Senate Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill repealing the restriction on non-federal funds. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask to speak to your Senator or Member of Congress.

Union members have always been a key voice for all Americans on issues like affordable health care, public education, green jobs, and equal opportunity. Restoring the freedom to choose a union is a key to getting America back on track.

But workers who want a union face intimidation, delays, stalling tactics, and are even fired illegally. Without workers’ freedom to bargain, the economy can’t be rebuilt in a way that guarantees the middle class will be rebuilt with it. When more folks can negotiate for better wages, health care, and working conditions by joining a union, things get better for all of us.

That’s why hundreds of state leaders are in Washington, DC today, fighting for the Employee Free Choice Act – so workers can fix our economy from the bottom up.

Over 300 state leaders are meeting today with their members of Congress in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Will you back up their Capitol Hill efforts by making quick calls to your senators, right now? It takes about 1 minute per call and makes a huge difference! We need to stand with them by OVERWHELMING the Senate switchboard today.

You can make a toll-free call to 1-888-650-9715 and ask to be connected to your senator’s office. Tell the staff member who answers the city and state where you live, and that you strongly urge your senator to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.

After you make the call, tweet about it and ask your followers to retweet this important message. Post it to your Facebook, myspace, and other social network pages to make today’s day of action a success.

Thank you for helping our efforts in the broad coalition of Allies taking Action, creating an undeniable force to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

The resignation of Van Jones silences a much-needed progressive voice in the administration. There is no doubt he will once again don the mantle of advocacy he wears so well and continue to do great work fighting for the environment and civil rights.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jones is not the first, nor will he be the last, target of manufactured right-wing outrage or partisan witch hunts. Just ask Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose stellar career and accomplishments were reduced by the right wing to attacks on her “wise Latina” phrase. Or ask Tom Perez and Dawn Johnsen, two nominees to senior Justice Department posts who still await confirmation amidst partisan gameplaying.

Those yelling the loudest now about targeting administration officials–many of whom are women and people of color–for “extremist views” are the same voices who passionately defend the likes of John Ashcroft, Jay Bybee, and Donald Rumsfeld.

Van Jones’ forced resignation is a hard lesson for our progressive community. We have always known the corrosive effect the organized right wing has on reasonable debate, and their willingness to lie and wage baseless attacks on the character of good and strong leaders.

But instead of each group defending leaders of our own communities, all of us — environmentalists, civil rights, women’s, human rights groups, you name it – must work together to defend progressive leaders from the kind of vicious attacks that have denied America a creative, innovative public servant like Van Jones, and that threaten to keep Dawn Johnsen, Tom Perez, and others from serving in the Obama administration.

Van Jones has much more to offer this country, and Alliance for Justice looks forward to proudly standing with him and other committed progressives to fight for the change America needs.

Member Spotlight

AIDS United is a national organization dedicated to the development, analysis, cultivation, and encouragement of sound policies and programs in response to the HIV epidemic. Through the dissemination of information and the building and use of advocacy on behalf of all those living with and affected by HIV, AIDS Action has been instrumental in the development and implementation of major public health policies to improve the quality of life for the estimated 850,000 – 900,000 Americans who are HIV positive.